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Ode To Aphrodite: Immortal Aphrodite, From A Well-Carved Throne

The poem 'Ode to Aphrodite' by Sappho is a heartfelt plea to the goddess of love, expressing longing and a desire for relief from pain. Sappho reflects on the complexities of love and the influence of Aphrodite in her life. The document also provides a brief biography of Sappho, highlighting her contributions to poetry and her lasting impact on later poets.

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5 views3 pages

Ode To Aphrodite: Immortal Aphrodite, From A Well-Carved Throne

The poem 'Ode to Aphrodite' by Sappho is a heartfelt plea to the goddess of love, expressing longing and a desire for relief from pain. Sappho reflects on the complexities of love and the influence of Aphrodite in her life. The document also provides a brief biography of Sappho, highlighting her contributions to poetry and her lasting impact on later poets.

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ODE TO APHRODITE

Safo

Immortal Aphrodite, from a well-carved throne,

daughter of God, weaver of intrigues,

I plead with you: do not subjugate with pain and guilt,

God, my soul!

But come to me! For not even before, when

in the distance, listening to my cries,

what is it, your father, to leave the house

in your golden chariot.

The beautiful and very swift sparrows

they lead you through dense expanses,

amid the firmament, of infinite ether.

Here I come. And oh, you, the happiest,

smiling in your eternal faces,

you ask me now what I feel,


and because now my plea,

And what else does my heart want

afflicted see. Which one do you want, of the beautiful,

to the fearsome love convince, oh Sappho,

which one rejects you and insults you?

For when one flees, it soon follows you,

and if you refuse to present, he will give them to you soon,

and if you do not love yet, soon you will love,

even if he denies it.

Now come! Deliver me from pain and longing

and how much the soul, the completeness yearns

for so long, give him, and be, of me,

finally friend.

(Sappho)

Translation by Josaphat Neto.

—
Source: jonatasneto:

Sappho was born in Mytilene, on the island of Lesbos, at the end of the 7th century.
in an aristocratic family. In 593 BC, the tyrant Melanchros
she exiled her parents and had to live for a while in Sicily.

When he returned, already under the rule of Pittacus, he opened a thiasos, a


confraternity to prepare noble girls for marriage: there
they studied music, read poetry and learned to dance. All of this under
the protection of Aphrodite (Venus) and the muses.

Sappho wrote odes, hymns, and epithalamiums (wedding songs); in them, she
celebrate love, beauty, feminine grace and express affection for
your students*.

Unfortunately, of this great poetess (whom Plato called the 'tenth


Musa), only 650 verses (fragments of) have reached us.
diverse poems) and a single integral poem, the Ode to Aphrodite.

In antiquity, Sappho influenced Horace and Catullus, who translated


and imitated your texts, and in contemporary times, the Italians
Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827) and Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1837).

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